With her cheeky smile and love of life, Paige Morgan looks like any other 7-year-old girl.

But little Paige is only alive thanks to battery power as she has no natural heartbeat.

Just like fictional superhero Tony Stark's Iron Man , played by Robert Downey Jr . in the blockbuster films Paige's heart won't work without help.

She was diagnosed with a congenital heart defect before birth which meant she would need open-heart surgery to survive.

And it was during one of those operations to repair her heart that her natural pacemaker was severed so she had to be fitted with an artificial one to keep her alive.

Paige: The little girl with the Iron Man heart (Image: Peter Mason)

Dad Jason says: “She is a walking miracle to say the least.

"She is kept going with a battery. I sleep well at night, but I would sleep a lot better if that wasn't the case. I always think about it.

“Most people will check their children once before going to bed, we probably check her a bit more often than we should do. As the years go on we have started to relax a little bit, but then the battery life starts to run down and you think, here we go. I reckon she will be back in surgery within the next 6 months to a year for a new battery.”

Paige was a much-wanted baby as her parents Jason, 39, and Kirsty, 43, had struggled to conceive.

They had been trying for a baby for five years without success before they opted for IVF.

The first round failed, but then Paige was conceived in the second round of treatment.

Brave: Paige's parents were told that their unborn baby may have a rare syndrome called 21q (Image: Peter Mason)

The couple were over the moon – until the 20 week scan brought devastating news.

Engineer Jason explains: “The radiographer said they couldn't see all the chambers of our baby's heart. They told us not to panic, but we would need to go to Cardiff for another scan.

"It was there doctors explained that Paige had a condition called double outlet right ventricle which meant that the left side of her heart had a smaller chamber, and both her main arteries were pumping into the right side so she was getting too much blood and oxygen to her lungs.”

Devastated Jason and Kirsty, from Porthcawl in Wales, were also told that their unborn baby may also have a rare syndrome called 21q which can sometimes be linked to this heart condition.

When fashion designer Kirsty finally went into labour, the couple were terrified of what lay ahead for them and their baby.

He's all heart: The Comic book character Iron Man survives on an electromagnetic organ (Image: Marvel)

Jason says: “We were so frightened when she was being born. We were worried how she would be, would she have a disability?

"As soon as she was born they took her off us and it was all hands on deck working on her. First of all it was a relief that she was breathing, then it was a relief that she looked pink.

“We were in shock, but just so elated that she was breathing and the doctors were happy with her. She looked normal and she was crying, so that gave us hope. The doctors handed her to to Kirsty for a couple of minutes to hold until she was whisked off to the special care baby unit.

“Everyday was like a roller coaster,” explains Jason. “ They monitored her to see if she would need surgery straight away, but they wanted to get her stronger before they did open heart surgery .

“Her heart was only the size of a thumb nail when she was born, but in a couple of weeks it would be three times the size which would give her a better chance.”

Paige was just six weeks old weighing just over 5lbs when she underwent her first open-heart surgery.

“The surgery was possibly the most scary time of it all,” says Jason. “You just don't know whether or not you are going to see your child again and that is a horrible thing for any parent to have to experience.

“I remember handing her over to the doctors and nurses, and watch as they put the mask on her to put her to sleep. It was heartbreaking having to walk out of the room and leave our tiny baby there.”

But after seven hours in surgery the operation to fit a tiny ring around an artery to reduce the blood flow was a success – but the family knew it was the first of many surgeries their daughter would have to face.

Just eight months later little Paige needed another operation where surgeons tried to repair her damaged heart chamber.

And it was during this operation that Paige's natural pacemaker was damaged meaning surgeons had to fit an artificial one to keep her alive – making her one of only 25 patients each year to undergo this procedure.

Jason says: “When they came back from surgery they said she was fine, but we knew something wasn't quite right. The surgeon had a real disappointed look one his face, he said there had been a problem and as they had tried to repair her heart they had cut through her natural pacemaker, so she had had to have an artificial pacemaker fitted.

“We were told there was a chance that her heartbeat would come back once her heart had recovered, but more than likely she would need a pacemaker for life.

"My wife was more optimistic than me and we tried to hope for the best, but every six months she has a heart check and a battery check and there is still no heartbeat.

"The bottom of her heart can't communicate with the top of her heart so there is no natural pacing, and where she has been cut and repaired in the past the heartbeat is never going to find its way through the scar tissue.

“The doctor was apologetic, but we were just grateful and thankful that she was alive. He didn't want that outcome, there was a 1 in 10 chance it would happen. He is a great surgeon, brilliant.”

And while Paige might not be able to run or dance like other little girls her age, and is only the same height as her five-year-old brother Cooper, she makes the most of her life and overcomes all the obstacles that come her way.

Jason adds: “We tell Paige that her pacemaker helps her heart. She knows she has to look after her pacemaker, and she just gets on with it. As she gets older she is much more stable, and her immune system is stronger, but without that pacemaker it is game over.”

The British Heart Foundation is the UK’s largest funder of cardiovascular research. Through the public’s generosity it will fund half a billion pounds of life-saving research over the next five years. www.bhf.org.uk